China – Page 10 – Ian Birrell

World hunger has fallen. Now what do we do about the planet’s expanding waistline?

Published in The Independent (January 11th, 2014) In the year of my birth China was engulfed in the worst famine of modern history. One chronicler remembers rushing home […]

Africa / China / Environment / Gabon / Policy / World

The British professor fighting to save Africa’s elephants

Published in The Mail on Sunday (March 24th, 2013) As we set off from our overnight camp in the jungle, the patrol leader turns, gesticulating with a machete […]

Africa / China / Politics / Rwanda / World

The man who turned amorality into an art form

Published in The Daily Mail (January 12th, 2013) When Tony Blair visited Beijing a few weeks ago to open a prestigious conference on philanthropy, he showed he had […]

Aid / China / India / World

Forget aid and target inequality

Published in Prospect (November 9th, 2012) Should Britain give aid to India? For a hefty majority of people in this country, the answer is clear: it is absurd […]

China / World

Why do we care more about pandas than a Briton’s very suspicious death?

Published in The Daily Mail (April 16th, 2012) The picture speaks volumes: a damning snapshot of British impotence and Chinese intransigence. A government minister sits grinning for the […]

Africa / Aid / Arts / Books / China / General / World

Wise men in Africa

Published in The Independent (January 1st, 2010) The Dragon’s Gift by Deborah Brautigam (OUP) The Chinese invasion of Africa is, for many people, a simple morality tale with […]

Aid / China / Rwanda / World

Why are repressive regimes given the succour of British aid?

Published in The Independent (September 17th, 2009) Fifteen years ago, as the horror of genocide ripped apart Rwanda, Paul Rusesabagina became a hero. A humble hotel manager, he […]